A World without Cancer?

Shortly after I had that dream about Cancer, I was browsing for related details and one such thing worth mentioning was a video on Google videos by G. Edward Griffin “A World without Cancer.” Now, if you are a medical professional, student of medicine or biology, stop reading this, click on the link to see the video and you may directly go to the last paragraph. Griffin has got to tell you a lot. If this topic seems completely foreign and uncomfortable, then go on and read. I have tried to put Griffin’s words for you concisely.

Griffin has challenged the long stood belief of the medical fraternity that Cancer is either due to defects in Genes one carries or Carcinogens or due to both of them, each one contributing to the disease. He upholds Dr. Krebs belief that Cancer is a Nutritional Deficiency Disorder and can be totally cured if the missing nutrients are supplied. To illustrate, you may be familiar with simple iron deficiency anemia – you take dietary supplements of Iron for a few months and you will be cured of it. Dr. Krebs believes Cancer can also be cured by dietary modifications and vitamin supplements!

Griffin illustrates a few examples from history on how Scientists were condemned, ridiculed or executed for proposing theories that contradicted the then believed ones. He says he is also aware of the fact that the execution in the present day meant a ban on the license and practice of a physician (“professional death sentence” so to say) but in the interest of Humanity he claims he is propagating the idea.

Coming to the science of it, Dr. Krebs says cancer is a result of deficiency of a nutrient called Vitamin B-17 or Amygdalin or mendelonitrile beta -D-gentiobioside (natural product) or Laetrile (synthetic form of B-17). The dietary sources of Vitamin B-17 are the seeds of apple and apricot and to a reasonable extent millets and others.

The possible mechanism of its action is described by the Enzyme theory. Let me remind you once again that Enzymes are Biological Catalysts required to carry out almost all the biochemical reactions in a living being. Also, if you remember, Enzymes and their Substrates are very Specific in their interactions and they fit each other like a Lock and a Key (just to illustrate the specificity of their interactions). Now this Vitamin B-17 is believed to contain a Benzaldehyde and a Cyanide group in its chemical structure – both of which are highly toxic to human cells. All “normal” cells contain an Enzyme called ‘Rhodinase’ (protecting enzyme) which prevents the release of Benzaldehyde and Cyanide form B-17. However Cancerous cells lack this enzyme. What’s more, they contain another enzyme which the normal cells lack – ‘β-glucosidase’ (unlocking enzyme) which unlocks the Benzaldehyde and Cyanide groups from its structure. Together, they are more toxic to the cells than each of them present separately. Hence it is claimed that Vitamin B-17 is Potent, Specific and Safe.

To support the theory Griffin quotes the examples of animals which eat grass and other plant products rich in B-17, Tribal and other isolated populations which consume B-17 rich diet and it is observed that the incidence of Cancer in these populations is very nearly Zero! But they do not constitute a Matched Control to the urban population. You may say, let them breathe the same air we breathe, smoke the same cigarettes and use the same cosmetics we use, and then let’s see! Well, he says, it is observed that the incidence of Cancer among urban population which consumes B-17 rich diet is significantly lower than the other kind. He also correlates the increasing incidence of cancer with the Industrial revolution and changes in the diet of the people.

Then what about the much believed Carcinogens (substances known to cause cancer)? Griffin claims that these carcinogens may just define the site and type of cancer and may just be predisposing the individual but the actual damage is done by the deficiency of B-17! So, can B-17 cure cancer? Yes, he believes, unless it has gone into a hopelessly bad state! Yes, some nutritional disorders are like that. For example, deficiency of Vitamin A causes blindness. It is possible to cure it only if it is detected at early stages. Once total corneal opacity sets in, no amount of Vitamin A can restore your vision. Griffin illustrates the case of a gun shot wound. You may successfully remove the bullet from one’s body, but he may still die, if the Wound caused by the bullet is large! But he illustrates some cases in which B-17 was opted as a last resort, but surprisingly some of them were totally cured!

Explaining the toxic side effects of B-17, he believes that the side effects would occur only when it is taken in such a large dose that even Water or Oxygen would be toxic at such doses. He also compares the ratio between Therapeutic Dose and Lethal Dose (also called ‘Therapeutic Window’) of Vitamin B-17 and that of Chemotherapy. There is a statistically big difference. The cure rates, he claims, are far too high with B-17 than with Chemotherapy or Radiotherapy or Surgery (orthodox treatment).

The next question that comes to your mind is why such an Ideal drug is not popular? To put it in Griffin’s words, “with billions of dollars spent each year on research, with other billions taken in from sale of cancer related drugs and with vote-hungry politicians promising ever increasing government programs, we find that there are more people making a living from cancer than those dying from it! After all, the science of cancer is not as complicated as the politics of cancer!”

A commission was set up to test Dr. Krebs theory and it was reported that Vitamin B-17 was not at all a drug that could do something to cancer. Griffin refutes that the experiment that lead to the conclusion was not done correctly in the first place. The drug doses and selection of patients was incorrect and Griffin believes that the report was falsified and the members of the commission were frauds.

To conclude, Griffin acknowledges physicians worldwide who came forward to test his hypothesis and give their feedbacks. He ends saying, “just as we are amused today at the primitive medical practices of history, future generations will surely look back at our own era and cringe at the senseless cutting (surgery), burning (radiotherapy) and poisoning (chemotherapy) that now passes for medical science.”

Now let us interpret this theory with an unbiased mind. As Arthur Schopenhauer says, “All truths pass through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” It appears that the theory is in first or second stage. But are we so foolish that in the era of supercomputers and what not, we still are burying hardcore truths like B-17, just for some monetary gain? Well, being a student of science, it’s hard to believe that scientists like politicians can sacrifice humanity for selfish reasons! At least, we can once again put this theory to a Scientific test and interpret it in the light of advanced knowledge. We can subject those enzymes (Rhodinase and β-glucosidase) to extensive analysis using the latest molecular and genetic techniques and see if the claim is right. Well, let us say it is right. Now I am worried about the Drug Resistance! What if the cancerous cells mischievously undergo mutations to alter the affinity of the enzyme and thus escape Vitamin B-17? Or what if, by mistake, a mutation in normal cells can make them susceptible to killing by Vitamin B-17? Well, it is hard to predict all those things with the available data. Griffin may be right or Griffin may be wrong. But let us not behave like politicians; friends, we are scientists. Let us understand, experiment and discover the truth. Truth that benefits humanity – let only that truth prevail!